First Test, day one: Sri Lanka 135;
England 127-2Bess takes five wickets and Root eases to half centuryJoe Root could scarcely have wished for a better start to England’s epic year of 17 Test matches, walking off the field at stumps on day one in Galle with the runs next to his name matching the 66 on his back and his side a mere whisker from parity.
It followed a remarkably callow collapse by a Sri Lanka team who we were told wanted revenge for the 3-0 defeat to England in 2018. They were rolled for 135 in just 46.1 overs, as a cascade of poor shots and freakish dismissals gifted Dom Bess a second Test five-wicket haul that even he himself accepted was fortuitous.